Iowa football: Weather could slow down Hawk’s passing attack Saturday

The Iowa football team is back in action this Saturday after a 9-month hiatus, but due to weather, fans may not get a full offensive arsenal from the Hawks.

In previous years, there have been warnings for fans going to the season opener of Iowa football to drink plenty of water, limit alcohol consumption and be aware of how much time they are spending in the sun because it was going to be a scorcher played during the hottest part of the day.

Those warnings aren’t going to be warranted this year as predicted temperatures five days from now are looking like high-60s to low 70s and the game isn’t even going to be during the day when temperatures are the hottest.

In fact, the warnings, if there are any should be to layer up and bring a parka because rain is in the forecast for Saturday evening.

While that weather may not actually be much better from a fan perspective than 95-degree heat, it will be a lot easier on the athletic trainers and the coaching staff to not need to worry about heat exhaustion for the Iowa football player.

The rain, however, will possibly impact the way the Iowa football team’s offense looks on Saturday, and that’s unfortunate for all of us fans who are excited to see what’s in store for Nate Stanley and the aerial attack in year three.

Brian Ferentz has stated multiple times how they want to run the ball successfully and in a game against a Group of 5 opponent, we’re about to get a heavy dosage of Mekhi Sargent and Toren Young if this weather stays true to forecast.

Rain is not a friend of passing and two Iowa games come to mind from last season that can give us a bit of foreshadowing for how Iowa will manage the conditions.

At home versus Maryland, the wind was blowing like crazy in Kinnick Stadium so the defense did what it does best and shut down the Terrapins, and Brian Ferentz’s offense played it safe. Stanley threw the ball just 22 times for 86 yards and an interception while the Hawkeyes ran the ball 52 times in a 23-0 win.

Against Penn State, the weather conditions were drizzly and gross, but Iowa couldn’t deploy the exact same game plan they used against Maryland given that Penn State was (and still is) a much more talented team so the Hawks tried a short passing attack that was effective at times, but not ideal. Nate Stanley threw 49 times and completed just 18 of those attempts for 205 yards and an average of 4.2 yards per attempt. What sticks out most is a few overthrows (most notably to a wide-open TJ Hockenson) and the three fumbles from Iowa as they were unable to secure the ball the way they wanted to.

What all of this means is for Iowa football fans looking to see this new-look offense without last year’s All-American tight ends, we may have to wait a week. Against a lower-level opponent, there is no way the staff tries to air the ball out if it’s raining out Saturday evening at Kinnick.